Benoit Paire undoes Javier Marti in first round – Palermo Challenger 2011
Spanish teenager, Javier Marti lost to French Benoit Paire in their first round match at Palermo Challenger on Tuesday, October 4th. Both players cruised past easy opponents in their last round getting minimal time on
the courts and were now head to head for a critical battle with each other. Played in the environs of Italy, the match extended to one hour and 34 minutes before Paire walked away with a 6-3, 7-6(5) win.
Match kicked off with the hopes that Paire will easily come on top of the Spaniard and the French played true to the expectations. Marti showed nerves at the beginning and lost points on regular intervals and could not compose
himself to put up a fight in the first set. The Frenchman didn’t have to put in much effort to win the first set because Marti lost points with un-forced errors. Paire easily sealed the first set with 6-3 and smashed four aces across the court. Spaniard did
not manage a single ace and failed to have any impact on the game. Paire won 31 out of 56 points in the set and was all ready to knock-out Marti in the second set.
Marti had to come up with something special in the second set to extend the match to third set and try snatching the victory from Paire’s hands. Marti was cruising when all of a sudden Paire came back into the match with two consecutive
game wins. Paire’s experience was the main thing that brought the score level to 5-5 from 5-3 (Marti). Spaniard was left with a situation of “everything to lose” so he had to make sure that he won the set to keep the match alive. Set entered the tie breaker.
It was all about handling pressure and the teenager was not well-equipped. The experienced Frenchman sealed the match winning the second set 7-6(5).
Nevertheless, the match was fascinating and teenager was pleased with his performance especially in the second set. Spaniard has definitely got immense talent and would groom in coming years given he continues to work hard and
perform in the bigger tournaments.
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